March 31, 1791
- John McComb, Jr. awarded contract for first lighthouse built
after American independence, Cape Henry lighthouse.

January 20, 1809
- Judge James Geddes, retained by New York State Legislature to
conduct feasibility study for New York State canal, recommended
Hudson-Erie route; funding delayed; July 4, 1817 -
construction on Erie Canal began; took eight years to complete;
one of first great engineering works in North America; close to
1,000 Erie Canal workers died of malaria in swamps.

February 1, 1811- The Bell Rock Lighthouse was lighted for first time,11
miles out off the east coast of Scotland atop a white stone
tower rising over 30m (100ft) high; built by Robert Stevenson on
a treacherous sandstone reef, which, except at low tides, lies
submerged just beneath the waves; oldest sea-washed lighthouse
in existence; regarded by many as the finest lighthouse ever
built, most outstanding engineering achievement of the 19th
century.

April 15, 1817
- Erie Canal authorized, first canal of importance in U.S.,
linked Buffalo on Lake Erie with Hudson River at Albany New
York, distance of 360 miles; July 4, 1817 -
construction started.

September 10, 1823
- Champlain Canal opened in New York state, 60-mile canal that
connected south end of Lake Champlain to Hudson River in New
York; April 17, 1816 - authorized when law passed
"to consider, devise and adopt such measures as may or shall be
requisite, to facilitate and effect the communication, by means
of canals and locks, between the navigable waters of Hudson's
river and Lake Erie, and the said navigable waters and Lake
Champlain."

August 1, 1831
- King William IV opened New London Bridge to traffic;
1821 - Parliament appointed committee to consider poor
condition of existing centuries-old bridge (arches badly damaged
by the Great Freeze); 1825 - building commenced
under John Rennie, completed in 1831 (at city's expense); bridge
comprises five arches, built of Dartmoor granite; 1960's
- auctioned, sold for $2,460,000 to Robert McCulloch who moved
it to Havasu City, AZ; October 10, 1971 - rebuilt
London Bridge completed and dedicated.

February 24, 1839
- William Smith Otis, civil engineer of Philadelphia, PA,
received a U.S. patent for a steam shovel for excavating and
removing earth from railroads or canals; could move about 380
cubic meters of earth a day, with 1.1 cubic meter capacity
shovel and 180° slewing wooden jib; first used on Western
Railroad in Massachusetts.

January 2, 1842
- First wire suspension bridge opened to traffic in Fairmount,
PA.

May 4, 1845
- Erection of first U.S. iron truss bridge with parallel chords,
open web completed (34-ft span); carried tracks for main line of
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company until 1901.

November 5, 1852
- The American Society of Civil Engineers and Architects founded
(later named American Society of Civil Engineers); first U.S.
national civil engineering society; purpose was "the
advancement of the sciences of engineering and architecture in
their several branches, professional improvement of its members,
encouragement of intercourse between men of practical science,
establishment of a central point of reference and union for its
members."

May 24, 1862
- Westminster Bridge opened over River Thames, London, England.

July 17, 1866
- Chicago authorized building tunnel beneath Chicago River
(easy-to-excavate blue clay underlay the city) to circumvent
heavy river traffic which caused extensive traffic jams as
bridges over river would be raised, open as much as quarter of
time during navigation season to accommodate large numbers of
masted vessels; November 30, 1866 - work began; July 1867 - city awarded contract to J. K. Lake to
construct the Washington Street traffic; January 1, 1869
- completed, 1605 feet long and cost over $512,000; Washington
Street tunnel in use until 1953.

November 30, 1866
- Work began in Chicago, IL on first highway tunnel under water
in U.S.; 1,500-foot tunnel completed in three years at cost of
over $500,000; two roadways, each 11-feet tall, 13-feet wide,
and separate footway 10-feet wide and 10-feet tall; 1907
- tunnel lowered to provide better air circulation; allowed
regular automobile traffic for first time.

December 6, 1866
- First water supply tunnel for U.S. city completed for
Chicago, IL; Chicago Lake Tunnel extended 10,587 feet under Lake
Michigan to an inlet crib; 5 feet in diameter, final cost of
$380,784; March 17, 1864 - work started;
March 25, 1867 - water allowed into the tunnel. pumping
station with the standpipe tower still stands at the
intersection of Michigan Blvd and Chicago Ave., escaped
destruction in the 1871 Chicago fire.

January 2, 1870
- Construction of Brooklyn Bridge began.

July 4, 1874
-Mississippi River Bridge opened; two-tier triple-arch steel
bridge over river at St. Louis, MO; known as Eads Bridge after
James Buchanan Eads, American engineer who designed it; first
steel-arch bridge in U.S.; first major bridge to use steel,
cantilevered construction; top road level carried street cars,
with lower level for two lines of railroad traffic; 1974
- use for trains ceased.

February 9, 1875- First train on Boston and Maine Railroad line between
Boston and Albany passed through Hoosac Tunnel, rugged
part of Berkshires for length of 25,081-ft (4.75 miles); tunnel
completed after several failed attempts, 200 lives and 20 years.

February 20, 1877
- First cantilever bridge in U.S. completed, Harrodsburg, KY.

February 18, 1879
- Auguste Bartholdi, of Paris, France, received a design patent
for a "Statue" ("Design of a Monumental Statue, representing
"Liberty enlightening the World," being intended as a
commemorative monument of the independence of the United
States").

January 21, 1880
- Memphis, TN began construction of first independent municipal
sewage system in U.S.

February 16, 1880
- The American Society of Mechanical Engineers founded when 40
engineers from eight states met in New York City in office of
American Machinist; Robert Henry Thurston, who had established
an engineering school at the new Stevens Institute of Technology
in New Jersey, would later create engineering school at Cornell,
was its first president.

March 31, 1889
- Eiffel Tower, designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (56)
inaugurated; world's tallest man-made structure (until
completion of the Chrysler Building in New York in 1930); built
to honor of the centenary of the French Revolution; construction
time - 2 years, 2 months and 2 days.

February 4, 1895
- First rolling lift bridge opened over Chicago River at Van
Buren Street, Chicago; designed, patented by William Scherzer of
Chicago; steel trusses or girders across navigable channel
supported by, rigidly connected to, large steel rollers as
curved steel bases, like rocking chair rockers, weighted in the
rear to counterbalance the span. To open, these bridges roll
back on their rockers until upright, like a jackknife. One such
bridge now remains in Chicago, the Cermak Road Bridge (1906),
reopened in 1998 after two years of repair.

March 24, 1900
- Mayor Van Wyck, of New York, broke ground for New York subway
tunnel that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.

May 19, 1900
- Italian King Victor Emmanuel, Swiss president opened Simplon
tunnel, world's longest railroad tunnel (12 miles through
solid rock of Simplon Mountain between Rhone and Diveria
valley); linked Switzerland to Italy through Alps; considerably
shortened surface distance of European trade route between Brig,
Switzerland and Iselle, Italy.

December 19, 1903
-The Williamsburg Bridge opened in New York City; America's
first major suspension bridge using steel towers instead of the
customary masonry towers; seven years to complete at a cost of
$24,100,000 for land and construction; world's longest
suspension bridge (1,600 feet) until the 1920s.

October 27, 1904
- First New York City Subway line opened; system became
biggest in United States, and in world.

February 25, 1908
- The Hudson River railway tunnel opened, first tunnel under
Hudson River, commuters began traveling between Manhattan and
Hoboken in just ten minutes.

August 3, 1908
- The Philadelphia Subway opened (known as Tube Transportation).

1909 - Warren A. Bechtel founded W. A.
Bechtel Co. in San Francisco, CA; won first prime
contract—grading site of Western Pacific’s Oroville, California,
station on Oakland–Salt Lake City line [had worked on railroad
in Oklahoma Territory in 1898; operated mule-drawn sled used in
railroad grading work; settled in Oakland, CA in spring 1904 as
superintendent for E. B. and A. L. Stone company in charge of
building Richmond Belt Railroad, extension of Santa Fe Railroad
line into Oakland; became independent subcontractor in 1906,
landed first construction subcontract for Western Pacific
Railroad in California; rented, bought first steam shovel];
1910 - won subcontract for two sections
(Natron, OR) of Southern Pacific $39 million project to ease
grades, smooth curves on California-Oregon line; formed
partnership with Wattis brothers (Utah Construction Co. in Salt
Lake City); 1919 - won first road-building
contract (first California contract issued by U.S. Bureau of
Public Roads); 1925 - incorporated (brother, sons
as officers); one of largest, most respected construction firms
in West; diversified into highway construction, oil and gas
production, transportation; formed partnership with Henry
Kaiser; 1926 - completed first dam; 1929
- pipeline construction in partnership with Silas Palmer for
PG&E; March 3, 1931 - won Hoover Dam project (as
part of Six Companies, Inc. consortium) with bid of $48,890,955
($24,000 more than cost calculated by Bureau of Reclamation
engineers); 1933 - Steve Bechtel Sr. (son) named
president; formed Bridge Builders, Inc., with Henry Kaiser, to
construct eastern portion of Oakland Bay Bridge (completed in
1936); 1936 - company reorganized; 1937
- Bechtel-McCone-Parsons Corp. formed; moved into engineering,
built first refinery for Standard Oil of California; 1941
- 11 refineries completed or under way; 1940 - won
order from U. S. Navy for 60 C-1 cargo ships (last of 560 ships
launched October 27, 1945); 1945 - first of many
jobs for Southern California Edison; 1958 - had
worked on 2,000 projects in 40 states, in 30 countries on 6
continents; 1960 - Stephen D. Bechtel Jr. (35,
grandson) named president; 1968 - had worked on 27
nuclear-fueled generating units, backlog lasted more than
15 years (40% of all nuclear work in United States, half nuclear
plants in developing countries by mid-1980s); new era for metals
industries; 1967 - 22 hotels completed or under construction in
14 countries as result of arrangement with Pan American World
Airways Inter-Continental subsidiary); 1961 - Bay
Area Rapid Transit District approved Bay Area Rapid Transit
system plans (largest, most advanced rapid-transit project ever
undertaken; 1969 - around 14,000 employees, about
100 major projects in 60 countries; June 2, 1974 -
Saudi government signed contract for Bechtel to oversee
long-range industrialization program on behalf of kingdom; December 31, 1975 - company at work on 119 major
projects in some 2 dozen countries with estimated value of $40
billion (according to Fortune magazine); 20-year growth rate of
10 to 20%/year; June 24, 1976 - signed 20-year
program management services agreement with Saudi government for
development of Jubail region; 1975 - George Shultz named
president (left in 1982); 1979 - non-construction
activities (project management, engineering, construction
management accounted for two-thirds of revenues, up from 40% in
1970); 1980 - $11.3 billion in new bookings
(highest ever), 132 major projects in 20 countries; 1981
- Bechtel Group, Inc., holding company, formed; May 27,
1986 - organization-wide realignment; 1989
- Riley P. Bechtel (great grandson, 4th generation) named
president; 1989 - new work booked climbed to $5.4
billion, six-year high; 1992 - revenues reached eight-year high
of $7.8 billion; mid-1992 - continuous improvement
model supplemented with corporate business model comprising
seven critical processes; 1990s - restructured
operations along regional lines, in part to bring
decision-making closer to growing number of international
customers; 2001 - created industry-specific global
business units capable of managing worldwide operations in key
industries; more than 22,000 projects in 140 nations over 110
years.

March 30, 1909
- Queensboro Bridge, first significant double-deck bridge in the
U.S., opened to traffic; one of greatest cantilever bridges in
history of American bridge design; collaboration between famed
bridge engineer Gustav Lindenthal (1850-1935), architect Henry
Hornbostel; opening was one of, if not most important feature to
stimulate continuing development of Long Island City and Queens
in general.

August 24, 1909
- First concrete for Panama Canal poured at lock site at
Gatun; built 1904-14, half length of the Suez Canal; uses locks
to raise and lower ships (unlike Suez).

December 31, 1909
- Manhattan Bridge, fourth bridge between Manhattan and boroughs
across river opened to traffic; 1,470-foot span across East
River.

November 27, 1910
- New York City's Pennsylvania Station opened.

April 24, 1913
- Woolworth Building completed, tallest building in world (792
feet) for 16 years; designed by Cass Gilbert (used Victoria
Tower, London as a model); President Woodrow Wilson (from the
White House) pressed button which lighted the building's 80,000
bulbs.

October 12, 1920
- Construction began on Holland Tunnel connected New Jersey and
New York City.

November 12, 1927- Holland Tunnel between New York City and Jersey City, New
Jersey, officially opened to foot traffic (autos next day)
when President Calvin
Coolidge telegraphed signal from the presidential yacht,
Mayflower, anchored in the Potomac River; first of its kind in
the U. S. double-tubed underwater tunnel, 9,250 feet length of
the tunnel from shore to shore (of which 5,480-ft runs under the
river); named after its engineer, Clifford Holland; tunnel
carries 1,900 vehicles per hour; highly advanced ventilation
system changed air in the tubes 42 times an hour at the rate of
3,761,000 cubic feet per minute; first subaqueous highway single
tube tunnel in the U.S. was the 1,520-ft long Washington Street
Tunnel beneath the Chicago River in Chicago, IL (authorized on
July 17, 1866, did not carry automobile traffic until 1911).

December 11, 1929
- The Empire State Building's design announced.

January 13, 1931
- The bridge connecting New York and New Jersey named the George
Washington Memorial Bridge; April 30, 1931 -
bridge opened.

May 1, 1931
- The 102-story Empire State Building in New York City was
dedicated. At the White House in Washington President
Herbert Hoover pushed a button that turned on the lights of the
Building (button he pushed was "symbolic", someone else flicked
the switches on in New York) officially opening the tallest
building erected to that date (102 stories, or 1,454 feet from
the top of its lightning rod to its base at 34th Street and
Fifth Avenue below). Designed by architect William Frederick
Lamb (Shreve, Lamb and Harmon Associates), constructed during
the height of the Great Depression, took just over a year to
complete at a cost of only $40 million; construction employed as
many as 3,400 workers on any single day, completed ahead of
schedule. 1972 - the Empire State Building lost
its standing as the world’s tallest building with the completion
of the 110-story World Trade Center; 2004 - Taipei
101 building in Taipei, Taiwan, became the world’s tallest
building at 1,670 feet tall.

October 25, 1931
- The George Washington Bridge linking New Jersey, New York
completed eight months ahead of schedule, at cost of $59
million, 12 lives.

January 5, 1933
- Work on San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge began on the Marin
County side; first in the U.S. to have piers built in open
ocean; first to span the outer mouth of a major ocean harbor;
chief engineer was Joseph Strauss; length of the main structure
of the bridge is 8,940-ft, with towers rising 746-ft above the
water and a minimum clearance of 220 feet.

February 12, 1935
- Walker E. Irving, of Glennbrook, CT, received a patent for a
"Bridge" ("bridge deck of floor is mainly composed of an
openwork metal grating"); open-mesh steel flooring, especially
for draw bridges.

January 15, 1936
- First, all glass, windowless building in U.S. completed in
Toledo, OH as home of Owens-Illinois Glass Company Laboratory;
used 80,000 translucent water-clear hollow glass blocks, weighed
about 150 tons.

May 27, 1937 -
The Golden Gate Bridge, connecting San Francisco and Marin
County, California, opened to pedestrian traffic; May 28,
1937 - opened to vehicular traffic when President
Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key in the White House
to announce the event to the world.

December 22, 1937
- First
tube (today the center tube) of the Lincoln Tunnel opened in New
York to traffic, at a cost of $75 million; passed 1.5 miles
under the Hudson River, connected Weehawken, NJ and Manhattan;
February 1, 1945 - second tube of the Lincoln
Tunnel to the north of the first opened; May 25, 1957
- third tube added south of the first; world's only three-tube
underwater tunnel for vehicles; tubes have an external diameter
of 3-ft, operating headroom of 13-ft and width 21.5-ft.; maximum
depth from mean high water to roadway is 97-ft.

July 2, 1940- First pontoon bridge of reinforced concrete in U.S.
(Homer M. Hadley), Lake Washington Floating Bridge, Seattle, WA,
dedicated; total length of 34,021 feet included 25 pontoons
bolted together, each having two or more 65-ton anchors making a
6,620-foot floating span attached to fixed approach spans;
anchored with steel cables to resist wind and waves, and
hydraulic jacks to let out or take up the slack; first floating
draw span in the world, with a 200-foot section designed to
allow vessels to pass through; two 75-horsepower motors opened
span in 90 seconds; November 25, 1990 - water from
a heavy rainstorm filled the pontoons, floating bridge sank into
Lake Washington.

November 1, 1957- Mackinac Bridge, world longest suspension bridge opened to
traffic; total length of 26,444-ft, needed 34 bridge support
foundations; main span is 3,800-ft long.; joined upper and lower
peninsulas of the state of Michigan, reduced crossing time, from
a couple of hours, to 10 minutes; June 28, 1958 -
dedicated.

August 28, 1963
- Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, connecting Seattle and
Bellevue, WA, longest floating pontoon bridge in world,
opened; carried state road 520 with a floating length of 7,578
ft (almost 1000-ft more than the second-longest, Lacey V. Murrow
Bridge; retractable drawspan in the middle, opened to protect
the bridge when windspeed reaches 40mph.

November 21, 1964
- New York's Verrazano Narrows Bridge opened to traffic at 3
pm; $325 million, 6,690-foot span between Brooklyn and Staten
Island supported by arches of two steel towers as tall as
70-story skyscrapers; took 5 years to build; toll of 50-cents.

April 15, 1965
- Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel opened; connected Kiptopeke and
Chesapeake Beach, Virginia; bridge-tunnel hybrid spanned the
entire mouth of the great Chesapeake Bay, longest such structure
in the world at 17.65 miles in length (essentially an artificial
causeway raised on platforms).

July 16, 1965
- Mont Blanc seven-mile road tunnel opened, linked France and
Italy; holds world record for the deepest tunnel with 2480
meters of rock covering it; took six years, from 1959 to 1965,
to bore the 11.6-km long tunnel.

October 14, 1966- The city of Montreal inaugurated metro system.

July 21, 1970
- After 11 years of construction, Aswan High Dam across the Nile
River in Egypt is completed; more than two miles long at its
crest, $1 billion dam ended cycle of flood and drought in the
Nile River region, exploited tremendous source of renewable
energy, had a controversial environmental impact; brought the
Nile's devastating floods to an end, reclaimed more than 100,000
acres of desert land for cultivation, made additional crops
possible on some 800,000 other acres; 12 giant Soviet-built
turbines produced as much as 10 billion kilowatt-hours annually,
provided boost to Egyptian economy, introduced 20th-century life
into many villages; 1902 - dam completed at Aswan,
500 miles south of Cairo; created giant reservoir - 300 miles
long, 10 miles wide, named Lake Nasser; required the
resettlement of 90,000 Egyptian peasants, Sudanese Nubian
nomads, costly relocation of ancient Egyptian temple complex of
Abu Simbel (built in the 13th century BC).

December 23, 1970
- Construction of World Trade Center in New York City reached
1353 feet, its highest point.

May 3, 1973
- Chicago's Sears Tower, world's tallest building finished
(1,454-ft.); took 3 years to build, 1,707-ft tall including its
antennas; designed for more than 12,000 occupants.

April 5, 1974 -
Tallest building, World Trade Center opened in New York City
(110 stories).

June 26, 1976
- CN tower, in Toronto, Canada, world's tallest self-supporting
structure, opened to public; tallest free-standing structure in
the world (height of 1815 feet 5 inches); construction completed
in 40 months; classified as one of the Seven Wonders of the
Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

July 17, 1981- Queen Elizabeth II opened Humber Bridge at
Kingston-upon-Hull, England; longest single-span bridge in the
world (1.4 km), took nine years to build.

February 20,
1986 -
Britain and France announced plans to build the Channel Tunnel.

December 1, 1987
- British and French workers began digging the Channel Tunnel to
link the two countries for the first time in 8,000 years;
December 1, 1990 - workers finally meet in the service
tunnel, 40 meters beneath the English Channel seabed,
after knocking out a passage large enough to walk through and
shake hands, 22.3 km from the UK and 15.6 km from France.
May 1994 - officially opened; featured two rail tunnels
and a service tunnel; reduced travel time between England and
France by 45 minutes.

December 18, 1997
- The 9.3-mile toll expressway, Tokyo Bay Aqualine bridge and
tunnel that spans the narrowest gap of Tokyo Bay, opened to
traffic after 31 years of studies; project took 8-1/2 years to
complete at a cost of $17 billion; previously, trip required a 1
hr ferry or 62.1 mile drive.

(Dar al-Handasah), Kamal A. Shair (2006).
Out of the Middle East: The Emergence of an Arab Global Business.
(New York, NY: I.B. Tauris, 262 p.). Founder, Chairman of Dar
Al-Handasah. Shair, Kamal; Dar al-Handasah (Firm);
Businesspeople--Middle East--Biography;
Politicians--Jordan--Biography. Small-town boy, in what was then
Transjordan, dragged himself through school (mother illiterate),
moved to college in Beirut, went to America (Michigan and Yale),
returned to Middle East, created multinational corporate
empire engaged in trade, construction, manufacturing.

(Weir Group), W. J. Reader, with a final
chapter by the Right Hon. Viscount Weir (1971).
The Weir Group: A Centenary History (London, UK:
Weidenfeld, 238 p.). Established Business History Unit at London
School of Economics. Weir Group Limited. History of Scottish engineering
firm.

The year 2006 will mark the 50th anniversary of the federal law
that brought America its unparalleled Interstate Highway System.
This 46,508-mile web of superhighways has transformed our nation
and our economy. It is a symbol of freedom and a tribute to
human ingenuity. American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials (AASHTO), which represents the state
departments of transportation in the 50 states, the District of
Columbia, and Puerto Rico, will introduce you to the history of
the Interstate Highway System, plans to "Celebrate the
Interstate!" both nationally and in individual states, and some
of the policy questions the nation faces as we look to the next
50 years in U.S. transportation. Welcome!

The top 20 include electrification (#1), telephones,
automobile, radio, T.V., water supply systems, etc. Some of
these were government sponsored (e.g., safe water supplies),
others were developed in the private sector. Website provides
complete histories and timelines for each "revolutionary
technology.